When Will There Be An End To Student Unrest In Quebec?

My second radio piece will go live next week and this time it’s about the student protests in Quebec:

Months of student protests are continuing in Quebec, as Premier Jean Charest’s latest effort at compromise on tuition fees has been soundly rejected by student groups.

The proposal would have spread the annual increase of $1625 over seven years, rather than five, but student leaders insist that such an increase would result in thousands being unable to afford post secondary education.

The real problem is that tuition fees in Quebec have barely increased at all for 33 of the last 43 years.

Undergraduate students pay an average of just over $2,500 a year in that province.

Even after the full proposed increase is implemented, Quebec students would still be paying the lowest tuition in Canada, more than a thousand dollars less than their counterparts at most schools on the prairies.

The reality is, that students with a university degree will earn hundreds of thousands of dollars more during their working life than those who don’t.

Asking them to contribute a greater share of the costs of providing them with that future seems only fair and reasonable.